Today's entry is not your typical blog entry. At least, not my typical blog entry.

Not that I really have a typical blog entry. 

I want to talk about a good friend of mine, Jack Schudel. Jack has been volunteering at SHARE for 30 years.

VOLUNTEERING. For 30 YEARS.

Anaheim was, very likely, his last SHARE. He retired from the University of Florida at the end of October.

     Is it just me? Or does this gator logo have a certain similarity to ... dinosaurs?

Thirty years!  There are (thankfully) MVS Systems Programmers that haven't been alive that long. And short of being alive, I can't think of anything I've done for 30 years in a row. Jack has only ever missed four or five SHAREs since he started coming in August of 1976.

And I'm not talking about Jack being a volunteer who just shows up at SHARE and says hello. Jack has had stints as Deputy Project Manager for MVS Core Technologies, JES2 Project Manager, JES2 Mods Tape Coordinator, and MVSE Scheduler.

I just don't know if they make them like Jack anymore. I know that makes him sound old, and he is, , but I didn't mean it that way. That kind of dedication and selfless commitment to service is rare these days. We're all very busy, and so is Jack. Maybe he's just better at time management. Or prioritizing. Or maybe he just can't say no. I’d like to think he somewhat enjoyed what he was doing, and felt like he was helping to move the platform forward.

At this past SHARE in Anaheim, Jack received his 30 year service pin. It just seems like such a trivial gift. But when I started thinking about what else would be more appropriate, I really couldn’t come up with anything.  There just doesn’t seem to be anything that says ‘You are an amazing person and thank you for doing what you did for SHARE for all those years’.  I guess it’s true in many areas of our lives. How do you say thank you to someone who has done so much? Is there a Hallmark card for that?

In the end, a pin is just as good as anything else, I guess. Maybe I could get him some socks. I don’t think Jack has any socks.

Till next time,

Mary Anne
 

z/OSSYgirl